May TSG Tidbits – Akira, DWD, Crazy, Titleist, Epon

As we approach the end of May and the golf season is in full swing, I thought I’d do my usual ramble on what’s up at TSG. Here in Japan, the earthquake and Tsunami seem like a long time ago but surely no one has forgotten as they are still tallying up casualties and dealing with tens of thousands of misplaced people living out of school gyms and community centers. We still get tremors every day, mostly small but the occasional 5-6 second stronger jolt.  I’ve pretty much learned to sleep through them with my biological alarm only set to react to anything over 5 magnitude and longer than 10 seconds.

On the golf front, we’re excited to start carrying Akira products as you saw from Chris’ post below and also having Dance with Dragon again in the pro shop. We’ll be slowly adding products for both brands so keep your eye out or as always if there is anything you want or need do let us know. That also reminds me to remind readers that even if you don’t see a certain product in the pro shop, it does not mean we cannot get it. We have accounts with every major brand and several of the largest distributors here in Japan so we can pretty much get anything. Please just send and email and ask.

Crazy contacted us on the weekend to tell us that all 50 sets of the Crazy Toyoshima Limited Wedges are sold out so it took just over a week as we predicted. Crazy and Toyoshima-san are still catching up with the orders and producing the wedges on the fly and building the for customers. About 25% of all the sets were sold through TSG so I have to report that buyers will have to be patient and wait a little as Toyoshima-san is only one person and hand grinding and polishing every single day to get all the orders out. This means there may be waits of a couple of weeks+ depending on when you ordered.

It’s always nice when a manufacturer/brand listens to customer demand and I’m happy to report Titleist Japan has done just that. The Titleist VG3 Forged Iron has probably been our most popular iron over the last 6 months or so. I game a set myself and love them for their looks, feel and performance. However one gripe I had with them was that the lofts were so strong with a 44* PW that it left a large gap between my approach wedge and the PW. It seems this was an issue for many players as the VG3 Iron has done so well in Japan, catering to players of all levels including those who wished there was an actual VG3 Forged AW at around 48 and 49*. Well Titleist Japan listened and have produced a new 48* AW as a special order for those who need it. I got mine today and I’m glad to report it is not clunky or overly large like many in set AW’s can be. As a matter of a fact its shape and design flows wonderfully with the set and has very little offset, the way most like their wedges. So any VG3 users or potential VG3 buyers can now get an AW as well if they desire. Just contact us for details.

Another key development here at TSG is we’ve received Epon’s permission to include the Middle East as part of our shipping boundaries. So we can now accept Epon orders from any North American and Middle Eastern address but you still have to contact us directly for order placing. Epon is always in stock but cannot be checked out of the pro shop. You have to contact us to make your purchase. Epon has released some really cool accessories along with their new Limited Tour Bag (which black is already sold out of!). They’ve got new caps which are all very cool looking and finally some real iron head covers. The iron head covers come in a set of 10 4-PW + AW + SW + an F cover (F for Free so you can use it on a 3 iron or additional wedge). Please contact us for more details or to order!